World Series Games 1 & 2

So the Dodgers are down 2-0 in the World Series. Shit.

Maybe we can look at it this way: they were up 2-0 last year and lost the Series, so now that they’re down 0-2, they’ll win it. The numbers may be against them, but teams have come back from 2-0…and now they’re back at their home park in what baseball weather should be. Instead of freezing their asses off in that shithole in Boston.

Yeah: from what I can tell, Fenway Park is a shithole. It can be historic all it wants, that doesn’t make it nice. People keep talking about that Green Monster like it’s cool or something. But who the hell puts a wall like that where the left field fence should be? If you ask me, it’s a stupidass outfield.

What really told me it was a shithole was the fact that all the post-game interviews with the Dodgers were done on the field, after the guys had showered and gotten dressed. That means there was no room for the press in the visitor’s locker room…which probably looks like the kind of thing we had to deal with in A-ball. A couple rusty nails to hang your uniform on. And don’t forget the brown water coming out the showers lol.

Ok…I reckon I’m taking it out on Fenway Park when maybe I should be taking it out on the team.

So let’s face it: the Red Sox played better than the Dodgers in the first two games of the Series. By a lot. They’re doing everything you need to do to win ballgames – they sure as hell have no trouble with 2 outs and runners in scoring position – and the Dodgers are trying to hit home runs…which means stranding runners. (CT3 is still swinging so hard he almost comes out of his shoes. I guess he couldn’t hear me yelling at Keaton’s TV and telling him to calm down and just get on base…or anything but striking out. Bad news: he went 0 for 3 in Game 2. Good news: he only struck out once.)

Y’all might remember that I’ve been pretty down on Dave Roberts all season. And one of the reasons for that is the way he overmanaged us out of winning the World Series last year. I’m afraid he’s doing it again with his lameass pitching changes that end in disaster.

People are blaming Game 1 on the super lameass decision to pull Baez (funny how we all like him now – remember when we hated him?) and put in Wood who then gave away a 3-run homer. That certainly ended the game, but what shifted the momentum were the runs Madson let through after he took over for Kershaw. The dude walked in a run. That takes a special kind of stupid. And…in Game 2…what does Roberts do? Pull the starting pitcher and stick in the same dude who sank us the night before.

(People disagreed with me – starting with Keaton – when I said that Ryu could have gotten out of the jam he got into. Pulling him at all was jumping the gun. Ok, start ganging up on me. I can take it lol.)

What’s that thing Einstein is supposed to have said? That insanity is repeating an experiment over and over and expecting a different outcome?

I guess that means Einstein would say that Dave Roberts’ managing is insane. Since I suck at science, I’ll just say it’s super dumbass.

Some people (Keaton again, but also everyone on the Parrots I spoke to yesterday) are saying that the offense let the pitching down, but I don’t see how you can say that. 4 runs is pretty respectable for a World Series game, and it ought to be enough to win. That’s if the pitching doesn’t let the offense down.

Just because I said that 4 runs is respectable doesn’t mean that I’m letting the offense off the hook (or the rusty nail in the Fenway Park clubhouse lol). They’ve gone right back to not getting what I thought they’d figured out in Game 5 of the NLCS: situational hitting with runners in fuckin scoring position. Why is that so complicated? Shit, just look at what the Red Sox are doing…and copy them.

I know I’m not the only one who keeps saying this, but you don’t win championships by leaving runners on base inning after inning. That’s been the team’s biggest problem all season…and it’s their biggest problem in the World Series. They’d better fix it. And fast. Just go back to what they taught you in little league and it should be fine.

Ok, I reckon it’s not all the Dodgers’ fault. Boston’s pitching has been great while ours has been…well, y’all know how it’s been. Remember how I said that it wasn’t fair to our bullpen for everyone to keep saying that Milwaukee’s pen was so great? From the way the last two games went, I think it’s unfair to the Boston bullpen for everyone to keep saying our pen is so great. Boston’s pen has been lights out. If Kimbrel had problems closing out games earlier on, you’d never guess that by the way he shut the Dodgers down two nights running. Kelly with his 100 mph heaters is pretty unhittable too.

And Boston’s got some dang good position players. You gotta give credit to Betts, Benintendi and Martinez. And that shortstop whose name sounds like “boogers” lol. (The dude plays a lot better than his name sounds.)

So that’s how things stand, with us down 0-2. I worked out some of my frustrations on the heavy bag Keaton got for his apartment after the game, so maybe I won’t be screaming at the TV in Rocco’s tonight (at least I think that’s where I’m going.) At least not until Roberts pulls Walker for Madson. Then I may lose it. Just warning y’all lol.

Ok, so we gotta win today and we gotta win tomorrow and we gotta win Sunday. Then we gotta win one of two games playing back in that freezing cold shithole.

It’s a lot to ask. But I reckon the Dodgers can do it. They’ve done a lot of coming back from the dead this season. Now would be a good time to do that again.

I have exactly six words for the guys on the team: don’t strand runners in scoring position.

Please!!!